"Obama Gets Another Energy Headache as Agency Delays Drilling Vote"

"The Obama administration controls the tie-breaking vote on a plan to begin drilling for natural gas in the Northeast, shining a spotlight on its efforts to find a middle ground on the use of hydraulic fracturing to tap deep shale rock formations for energy.

Some local environmental groups are comparing the proposal, and their efforts to block it, to the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring crude to the United States from Canada's oil sands region. Green groups claimed a big victory earlier this month when the administration delayed a decision on that project.

The administration is holding its cards close to the vest on the drilling proposal before the Delaware River Basin Commission. The obscure but important agency has authority over development in a watershed that includes parts of four states and supplies drinking water to 5 percent of the country's population, including Philadelphia and New York City.

Late last week, the commission called off a vote that had been planned for today on whether to approve regulations and allow drilling to start."

Mike Soraghan reports for Greenwire November 21, 2011.

SEE ALSO:

Feature: "The Fracturing of Pennsylvania" (New York Times Magazine/Eliza Griswold)

"Gas-Drilling Protestors Rally in Trenton" (Philadelphia Inquirer)

"Gas Drilling Opponents Rally In NJ Capital" (Bloomberg Businessweek)

"Delaware River Watershed Fracking: Panel's Support for Drilling Falls Apart" (Parsippany Daily Record)

"'Politics Not Science' Driving Delaware River Debate: Pennsylvania Governor" (Platts)

"GOP Pa. Electoral Vote Plan Might Be Out of Steam" (Lebanon Daily News)

"(VIDEO) Mark Ruffalo and Debra Winger Join Trenton Rally Opposing Delaware River Gas Drilling" (New Jersey Newsroom)

"Sources Say DRBC Vote May Be Put Off, Following DE Decision To Vote 'No'" (PoconoNewsNet)

"Locals Fight Against Fracking Threat" (Middletown Patch)

"Oh Frack: Obama Again Under Fire From Environmentalists" (Daily Caller)

"Update: Hydro-Fracking Regulations Won’t Pass, Protest Cancelled" (Swarthmore College Daily Gazette)

"Delaware River Basin Safe From Fracking (For Now)" (NRDC Switchboard)

"Delaware River Basin Commission Meeting Canceled" (Wayne Independent)